Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerNewark police investigate the scene where one person was killed and four others were injured during an explosion of gunfire in the city's West Ward in this 2010 file photo.

NEWARK — Three fatal shootings in the last two days pushed Newark’s homicide total to 29 this year, a 71 percent jump in killings compared with the same period in 2010, as violent crime surges following police layoffs.

Between Jan. 1 and April 17, Newark has seen marked increases in homicides, shootings and thefts, while overall crime rose by 21 percent compared with the same time last year, according to Newark’s quarterly crime statistics obtained by The Star-Ledger.

Several of the most recent slayings claimed the lives of innocent bystanders, including a 49-year-old man who was shot several times outside of a chicken restaurant in the South Ward late on Easter Sunday, authorities said.

The report shows Newark has suffered steady increases in violent crime and property crime since the city laid off 167 police officers in November. Between Jan. 1 and April 17, shootings increased from 56 to 72 and robberies jumped from 418 to 462. Auto thefts saw the sharpest rise, leaping by 39 percent, from 743 in 2010 to 1,035 during the same time this year, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for the city administration, Esmeralda Diaz Cameron, said, "Our city has grown too strong in recent years to allow levels of violence to increase to where they were in 2006 and before. … We will continue to employ innovative policing measures to ensure that Newark will not accept anything less than strength, peace and security."

Police union leaders, who have frequently criticized the Booker administration since the layoffs, were quick to blame the crime spike on a lack of manpower.

"I think it just comes down to the people on the street. The bad guys know we’re not out there, and it has an effect on how they operate," said James Stewart Jr., vice president of Newark’s Fraternal Order of Police. "That’s why the shootings have increased dramatically, that’s why the homicides are up."

Stewart said the layoffs had made criminals more brazen, saying the lack of police manpower makes gang members and drug dealers more likely to carry weapons and to use them in the open.

While crime has increased, police productivity has also continued to slide. The total number of arrests made by city police officers between Jan. 1 and April 17 dipped by 22 percent compared with 2010, according to statistics, while the number of parking summonses and moving violations issued also dipped.

City police recorded 7,163 arrests between Jan. 1 and April 17 of this year, compared with 9,161 in 2010.

The trend continued a decline that started last year. Arrests and summons totals dropped in the second half of 2010, with some of the largest decreases coinciding with bitter and hostile negotiations between the unions and Booker’s administration.

Stewart said the lack of manpower leaves patrol officers on the defensive, responding to calls for help rather than actively trying to make arrests or issue summonses.
"Not that we had free time, but now you’re just going job, to job, to job," he said.

The latest killing came about 7 p.m. yesterday in the South Ward, police said. In a double shooting at Thorne Street and Evergreen Avenue, an unidentified man was shot in the face and soon died at the scene, while the second victim was expected to survive, police said.

In the same ward on Easter Sunday, two men were killed in a four-hour span. Shortly before 7 p.m., 24-year-old James Conn was shot several times in the 400 block of Clinton Avenue, less than a block from the Police Department’s newest precinct, said Thomas Fennelly, Essex County chief assistant prosecutor.

A half-mile away, Jamal Hedamy was shot outside of Crown Fried Chicken on Avon Avenue at 10:25 p.m., he said.

While a motive remains unclear in Conn’s death, Hedamy "did not appear" to be the target, said Fennelly, who said bystanders have fallen victim to violence several times in recent weeks.

The violent opening to 2011 is in stark contrast to last year, when the department enjoyed one of its most successful stretches in recent memory. Crime dropped 13 percent during the first three months of 2010 and Newark police crippled one of the city’s oldest drug havens in a massive raid at Academy Spires apartments.